The present invention relates to a workstation attachment for a portable easel, more particularly, to a so-called French easel of the type which has a drawer and a workstation attachment which fits onto that drawer.
A common portable easel, primarily for use outdoors, by painters, water colorists and other artists is known variously as the xe2x80x9cFrench easelxe2x80x9d, the xe2x80x9cJullian easelxe2x80x9d or the xe2x80x9cbox-type easelxe2x80x9d. This widely-used easel has the advantage of being compact, since the legs of the easel and the artwork support fold into the frame which is rectangular and has a box configuration. The easel usually also has a drawer which is pulled out in the direction of the artist once the easel is erected and is in use. Such easels have been described and illustrated in commercial literature and, reference may be had to the May 2002 issue of American Artist, which shows a metal shelf which is attached laterally to the easel and is marketed by G. Hemson Fine Art of Manitou Springs, Colo. 80829. That surface, laterally of the easel, serves to support a palette, towels, supplies, etc.
Another system for increasing the surface area available for use by the artist is that which has been described as the xe2x80x9cFrench Companionxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cFrench Mistressxe2x80x9d which is a folding tray which rests upon the aforementioned easel drawer and has surfaces above the drawer and laterally of the drawer to either side.
The side shelf, while providing a substantial area, is predominantly at a location which cannot readily be reached by an artist in front of the easel and the folding tray which rests upon the drawer obstructs the interior of the drawer and thus provides additional work surfaces but only at the expense of the storage capacity of the drawer. Various other solutions to problems with French easels are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,149,463, 5,337,996 and 6,012,696. Reference may also be had to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,372,630 and 5,860,318.
It is the principal object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a workstation attachment for a French easel which can have augmented work surfaces without detracting from the utility of the drawer.
Another object of this invention is to provide a workstation for a French easel which can be simply attached thereto, which will provide additional working surfaces and facilities, and which when removed, is itself compact and easy to handle.
These objects and others which will become apparent hereinafter are attained, in accordance with the present invention, in a workstation attachment for a French easel which provides a platform for a palette on one side and, on the other side, brush racks, a support for a paper towel holder and space for jars, solvents and other accessories useful to the artist.
Key to the invention is that this workstation has a pair of slides which engage the sides of the drawer from the exterior so that the workstation underlies the drawer between those slides and therefore does not obstruct the drawer. The workstation can project toward the artist forwardly of the drawer and there provides a shelf for the storage of additional paraphernalia useful to the artist. More particularly, the easel assembly of the invention can comprise:
a box-shaped casing;
a plurality of folding legs mounted on and extendable from the casing for supporting the casing upon a surface;
an artwork support structure mounted on and erectable from the casing for supporting an artist""s work surface;
a drawer receivable in the casing and extendable therefrom in a direction transverse to the surface and toward a user of the easel, the drawer having a pair of longitudinal sides extending in the direction; and
a workstation attachment for the easel comprising:
an elongated tray dimensioned to extend below the drawer and beyond the sides, and
a pair of slides on the tray engaging the sides of the drawer and supporting the tray on the drawer.
As noted, a pair of brush racks can be mounted on one end of a tray to one side of the drawer while another end of the tray forms a palette receiving surfaces of the opposite end of the drawer.
The tray itself can have two parts and thus can fold at a hinge between those parts.